


seeking comfort

by arysthaeniru



Category: Summer in Mara (Video Game)
Genre: Food, M/M, Missing Scene, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 07:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26469346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/arysthaeniru
Summary: Koa enjoys a fun meal with her oldest friends.
Relationships: Caleb/Noho
Kudos: 1





	seeking comfort

It’s evening, and the water around Puni Cave has turned a rich burgundy-purple, a beautiful sight to watch as Koa steers into the hidden gathering spot. As she throws the anchor over the side, and Napopo dives off the edge of the stern to follow it into the water, Koa wonders how the cave became what it is today. 

Did the water carve out this hole, slowly, day by day? Did a pirate older than Litio and Mr. Ecco combined, throw a firework into the rock, accidentally carving out this space? Did somebody build it purposefully?

Like most of Mara, it is a mystery. Just a good place to hang out and breathe. Maybe that’s enough. 

Koa says hi to the mouse squeaking around the entrance, sprinkling a bit of her cheese down for them, and makes her way through the glistening bottles, to where Caleb and Noho are gathered around a campfire. The smell of a delicious stew floats through the air, and it brings a smile to Koa’s face. 

“Hi.” she says, throwing herself over the edge of the log, to perch down next to Noho. 

“Hello Koa.” Noho says, eyebrows raising, in that curious way of his. “You’re out and about late.”

“I was in the area.” Koa says, and doesn’t mention that she’d been running pirate errands for Litio. She’d sort of thought they’d be cooler missions than simply making cheese, but Litio seems like a nicer pirate than most of Koa’s storybooks had ever described. He doesn’t seem interested in explosions, just money and food. 

Most people in Mara like money and food, Koa has come to find. Litio’s not exactly different. Still, he doesn’t seem to like people from Qälis, and they don’t seem to like him either, so she doesn’t mention Litio around normal people. 

“Always moving around, huh? You remind me of a younger me.” Noho says, with a wide smile. “I travelled all over the world, looking for strange places, secluded spaces, untraversed areas. I was good at finding them, too! You need persistence! It’s the most important thing. “

Koa, sensing that Noho was going to continue for a while down the same vein, simply turned her head over to Caleb, who was dutifully stirring the pot. “Hi Caleb.”

“Hello.” he answers, simply as ever. He’s not wearing his hat for once, and he looks a little older without it. “Would you like some stew?” 

“Yes please!” Koa says, with a grin. “I can throw in some fresh vegetables too.” Ever since she’d managed to hoe out the rocky ground around her house, she’s been able to grow so many more plants. It makes life a little easier. It means she can feed her chickens fresh corn every day, and still grow other food for herself too.

“If you have an onion, I’d like that.” Caleb says, pulling out his kitchen knife, and dutifully, Koa pulls down her croissant backpack, and hands him an onion. Deftly, he peels it, and starts to chop, without even crying once. 

Koa is jealous. She’d spent hours trying to cut onions without getting her tears into the food and had failed. Taka had called it a useless endeavour and had set her cutting chocolate instead. That had been a lot more fun, so it hadn’t been an entirely wasted effort. But still, she’s jealous at how easy it is for Qüido to deal with food. 

“—And that was how I solved the mystery of the forgotten island. Wait, what was I talking about?” asks Noho, finishing his story, finally. 

“Nothing in particular.” Koa says, sticking her tongue out. 

“Ha ha.” Noho says, and ruffles her hair, a little aggressively. Koa laughs, and falls off the log, giving up instantly. Noho’s expression softens, and he laughs too.

“Why’d you come here today, Koa?”

“Heard a story about this place from Akaji.” Koa explains, shutting her eyes, and letting the sound of the slow stream running through the cove soothe her. “She said it was a place where a sailor and a pirate fell in love and hid away from people who judged them. Is that true?” 

“Yes.” Caleb says, shortly. 

“I’d always heard the story was different.” Noho says, instead, leaning backwards, a little more guarded. “Something about harm to Mara...”

“People say a lot of things will harm Mara. They’re often wrong.” Caleb says, and there’s a tone to his voice. It’s a tone that adults use when they’re arguing but don’t want her to know about it. Koa’s kind of used to this tone, by this point. She wonders what they’re actually talking about. 

“Mmmm, maybe so.” Noho says, acquiescing easily to Caleb. They smile at each other, briefly, and the tension is over, just like that. It’s strange for Noho, perhaps, but he’s quieter here than he usually is while running the shop, Koa notices. 

“Did you two meet here?” asks Koa, curiously. 

“Here? Goodness, no. We met years ago in a busy city to the south of here.” Noho says, with a laugh. “We didn’t like each other at all, back then. I thought Caleb was stuck-up and arrogant, and he thought I was a garrulous busybody. We spent ages trying to avoid each other, actually, but somehow it never seemed to work out, we’d always run into each other when we least expected it. In an old sailing club, by a dangerous piranha fishing spot, out where the flying monkeys nested, in shady marketplaces, on a deserted island with purple sand...everywhere.” 

A grin spread across Noho’s face. “I was furious at the time, of course, but Caleb’s not good at being mad. He’s always been that way, and he stopped being annoyed and started being interested far earlier than I would have come to it. So, it’s the middle of the Night Lights festival, and we run into each other at the same bar. I’m ready to walk straight back out again. Caleb blocks my path though, and just looks down at me, and asks if I want to have a drink with him. I’m reluctant at first, but he says he’ll buy.”

“We get talking and the hours just fly by. All the things I thought I didn’t like about him turned out to be wrong, and all the things I’d respected about him turned into things I loved about him. Just one conversation, and I knew we were going to end up as business partners.”

“Partners in everything.” Caleb contributes, lifting up his ladle to make his point. 

“Yes, but I didn’t know that so early.” Noho argues. 

“I did.” 

“Of course, you did—you old settler you!” Noho grumbles, but there’s a fond grin on his face. “Caleb’s very smart, and nobody ever seems to expect it from him. He always wins and he always knows things. He’d be very good at gambling if he wasn’t so damned sensible.” 

“He’s very respected on Qälis.” Koa says, because it’s true. People have grumbly things to say about Noho, sometimes, but nobody says anything bad about Caleb—not even Edogan! 

“That’s because they know him now. At first though...” 

Caleb shakes his head. “That’s in the past now,” and his tone brooks no argument. 

“But you know. Sometimes you come out to romantic coves to get a bit of peace and quiet. It helps.” Noho shrugs off his coat and tilts his head upwards. “Nice to get away from the hustle and bustle for a bit.”

Koa hums in agreement, and watches the bottles twist in the air, as a light breeze wafts through the secluded cove. They shimmer, like a wave cresting over the edges of her boat when they’re out in the open sea. It’s beautiful, and Koa wishes she could replicate this on her island somewhere. Maybe she could hang up some bottle in the passageway between the Door and the rest of her island? Maybe even inside her mine? 

“Stew’s ready.” Caleb says, finally, and Koa eagerly digs out her bowl from her backpack, and grins as Caleb ladles in the boiling soup to the top. It smells delicious. 

“What’s your favourite island in Mara, Noho?” Koa asks, as she blows on the top of her soup. Bubbles ripple across the reddish, creamy surface of the stew. 

“Favourite? Hmmm. I’ve always liked Quruluqi...very few tourists venture up there, after all, and it’s very quiet. Great fishing! I almost caught the biggest sardine of my life from there!” Noho demonstrates how large it was, measuring from his head to his end of his torso. In doing so, he almost spills his stew all over his coat. Caleb rescues the soup from its untimely demise at the last second, though, and returns it to Noho delicately. Noho looks a little mollified.

“But I think ultimately, the temples are very soothing places. I like Setting Temple best.” he finishes, quickly. 

“I like the temples too.” Koa agrees, with a grin. “I think Septentrion Temple is my favourite. It’s so pretty there and the grass is so golden.” 

She likes the way that Napopo actually comes ashore with her on temples too—how happily Napopo dances across the grass on islands where Mara feels purest. Koa likes all of her new friends, but Napopo is her first and very best friend, and Koa wishes that Napopo would meet the others more often. Maybe one day, Caleb and Noho will come to a Temple at the same time Blu, her and Napopo arrive, and they can all chat together. That would be nice. 

Koa momentarily daydreams about the thought of a giant picnic where all of her friends could eat together and play in the sunshine, before the thoughts of Taka and Awan tearing each other apart, and Saimi getting up to fight the pirates in one-on-one combat, remind her why it would be a bad idea. A nice idea, though. Maybe one day in the future, once Koa reminds everybody that they should all get along, they could have a picnic. 

“What about you, Caleb?” she asks, sipping on the stew. The onions are crunchy, and the potatoes and turnips are soft, and it all tastes amazing. 

“Nakitu Island.” Caleb says, and he looks very peaceful. “The oranges there are the sweetest, and the swordfish flock to the shore, until you can practically scoop them up with your bare hands.” 

It’s the most poetic she’s ever heard him speak, and Koa is struck silent for a moment. 

“Caleb also really likes the vases there.” Noho says, and there’s a mischievous look to his eyes. 

‘They make a funny sound.” Caleb agrees. 

Koa giggles, remembering the strange noises they make. “Are they really alive?” she asks. 

“Absolutely.” Noho says. “I tried to sell one once, and it was most indignant at that treatment. You should have seen the look on Aquila’s face—the vase hopped its way straight out of his house and rolled right into the ocean! It took a full year before he’d buy anything from us again.” 

Koa can only imagine. She giggles, conspiratorially, thinking of how Aquila’s pretty features might turn horrified at anything so strange existing within his perfect mansion, and they both join her. 

They fall quiet, as they finish their stew, and Koa thinks of how she used to eat meals with Yaya. It’s strange being here, instead of being in her house, listening to Yaya talk about the market and the food quality and the naughty seagulls. It’s similar though. 

Before she’d met Napopo, Koa had spent a lot of time wishing things would go back to the way they’d used to be. Just her and Yaya and the island. She still thinks that sometimes, on especially lonely nights, when she’s alone under the stars, and Saimi and Dunna are being especially difficult. But now, she understands that all she can do is move forward. If Yaya had never left, Koa would never have been able to have this. And this is beautiful, in a different way. 

“I’m glad I met you two.” Koa says, quietly, when they all finish their food, and stack their bowls inside the cooking pot, to wash for later. Caleb and Noho look more relaxed now, and are holding hands, their feet almost intertwined. They look nice together, like married people should. 

Noho smiles, and it is an especially tender smile. “So sentimental all of a sudden.” But he’s not teasing for once, just mildly curious. 

“I’ve made a lot of good friends, but it always takes a bit of work. You’ve always been kind, though. Thanks.” Koa says, stubbornly. Saimi and Dunna are so insistent about manners and treating people right, and Koa really does appreciate that Noho and Caleb have always been easy friends. 

“Honestly child. It’s hardly a trouble.” Noho says and gives her a sharp look. “Even if you’re trouble for the store, you’re fun to have underfoot.”

“You’re always welcome with us.” Caleb says, simply, and that’s enough.

Koa smiles, and feels a warmth in her bones, and wishes that life in Mara could be like this all the time.


End file.
